Reading, Massachusetts

Photo: Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In May 2025, Reading’s Town Meeting voted 158 to 1 to borrow just over $130 million for a new Killam Elementary School, and nine days later the town’s voters said yes to paying for it at a special election. That is how power works here: big decisions take two rooms, and both of them are filled by your neighbors. Even the electricity in your outlet is town business, because Reading has owned its own light department since 1894 and still elects the five commissioners who govern it. This guide shows you how Reading works and where you can push on it.

Reading at a Glance

25,518Residents (2020)

1644Incorporated

5Select Board Members

3,862Students

Sources: Massachusetts DESE, district profile · US Census Bureau (data.census.gov) · Town of Reading.

County: Middlesex. Reading’s closest neighbors are North Reading, Wakefield, Stoneham, and Lynnfield, and the town lines matter less than you would think: the same state senator and the same regional questions reach across them.
Government: representative Town Meeting with an elected five-member Select Board and an appointed Town Manager, Jayne Wellman, who runs the town day to day.
Schools: Reading Public Schools, 3,862 students across nine schools, led by Superintendent Dr. Henry Turner.

How Reading’s Government Works

Reading runs on a representative Town Meeting, which is an old New England form scaled up for a town too big to fit everyone in one room. Voters in each precinct elect their neighbors to serve as Town Meeting members, and those members hold the final vote on the budget and on the town’s bylaws. Voters also elect a 5 member Select Board to set policy and the School Committee that oversees the schools. The Select Board hires a professional Town Manager to run the town day to day. The levers are split on purpose: residents elect the people, Town Meeting votes the money, the Select Board sets direction, and the Town Manager carries it out.

Reading has run on Representative Town Meeting since 1944, so voters in each of the eight precincts elect 24 Town Meeting members, 192 in all, and those elected members are the ones who debate and vote the town budget and the bylaws.

Town Meeting

The legislative body. Members elected from the precincts adopt the annual budget, pass town bylaws, and approve major spending. It is the closest thing to direct democracy that still works at this scale.

Select Board

5 members elected town-wide. They set policy, sign the warrants that decide what reaches Town Meeting, appoint residents to many town boards, and hire and supervise the Town Manager.

Town Manager

The appointed chief administrator. Runs the departments, builds the budget, and answers to the Select Board. Hired under contract, not elected.

School Committee

6 members, elected by the voters of the district the schools serve. It sets school policy, approves the school budget, and hires the Superintendent.

Residents elect Town Meeting members from their own precinct, the 5 members of the Select Board, and the School Committee.
The Select Board hires the Town Manager and sets town policy.
Town Meeting votes the budget and the bylaws up or down.
You take part: run for Town Meeting from your precinct at 18, speak at a Select Board meeting, or testify at Town Meeting.

Explore the Reading Edition

Civic Calendar

Select Board: meets at Town Hall, 16 Lowell Street, with agendas posted in advance on the town website.
Town Meeting: the Annual Town Meeting convenes in the spring, opening in late April in recent years, and the town can call a Subsequent Town Meeting in the fall, as it did in November 2024.
Town elections: Reading votes in early April. The 2026 annual town election was held on April 7. The next comes in spring 2027.
State and federal elections: even-numbered years. On November 3, 2026, the state election ballot in Reading also carries the town’s $6.5 million operational override question.

Your County Officials

Two of the people with the most direct power over your life are elected, and neither one sits on Beacon Hill. The district attorney decides who gets charged with a crime, and what they get charged with. The sheriff runs the county jail. The sheriff is elected by the voters of Middlesex County. The district attorney is elected by the voters of a prosecution district, and Massachusetts draws eleven of those across its fourteen counties, so a district attorney’s territory does not always follow a county line. Both appear on your ballot in Reading. Now you know what to look for.

District Attorney, Northern District (Middlesex County)

Marian T. Ryan

In office since 2013
Official site

Sheriff, Middlesex County

Peter J. Koutoujian

In office since 2011
Official site

Massachusetts elects fourteen sheriffs, one for each county, and eleven district attorneys, one for each prosecution district. The job is the same everywhere: the charging decisions, the jail. Look up any town in the state and see who holds these two offices there.

Officials for any Massachusetts town

Your First Civic Action in Reading

You do not have to wait until you can vote to be heard in your own town. Here is how to take a real concern to the people who decide.

Pick the right body. Town policy, roads, and police or fire go to the Select Board. Schools go to the School Committee. The budget and bylaws are voted by Town Meeting.
Find the meeting. The Select Board meets at Town Hall, 16 Lowell Street, and the agenda is posted in advance on the town website.
Know your members. All five Select Board members are elected town-wide, so every one of them answers to you.
Speak. Meetings are open to the public, and residents may address the board. Check the agenda for how to sign up.
Or skip the trip. Report a pothole, a broken light, or a missed pickup through the service request page on the town’s own website.

Town Hall: 16 Lowell Street, Reading, MA 01867. Main line 781-942-9001.
Town Clerk & agendas: 781-942-9050, with meeting agendas and minutes posted at readingma.gov.
Public schools: Reading Public Schools, 82 Oakland Road, 781-944-5800, reading.k12.ma.us.

Local government works best when residents show up. Learn the moves, then make one: a real concern, taken to the room where it gets decided.

Take Action in Your Town

Meet your Select Board

Sources

This guide draws on public sources, refreshed August 2026: U.S. Census Bureau, Massachusetts DESE School and District Profiles, Massachusetts Legislature (malegislature.gov), the official Reading government website, and The Reading Post.